1. I’m not interested in the story of your incredible awakening. I’m not impressed by how much you’ve read and memorised about enlightenment, how many Sanskrit works you can regurgitate, how many gurus’ feet you’ve sat at, how many books you’ve written. I’m not interested in your glorious visions of other realms, your clever second-hand philosophies, your unshakeable mental conclusions.

I don’t want to hear how much you adore me, how beautiful you think my words are, how close you feel to me when you gaze at my photo. Sorry, but that is all romantic hogwash, personality worship – nothing to do with Truth. I care about you too much to buy into your projections, to fuel your flight from yourself, to fan the flames of unrequited love.

I am only deeply interested in who you really are before you start to hide behind your image. I love you too much to pretend. Make me into a god, and I will only disappoint you. The most loving thing one could ever hear. ~ Jeff Foster

2. Marry Your Self: You are going to be with you for all of eternity. There is no way for you to ever escape yourself. Wherever you go, there you are. And until you can make peace with yourself, it will be nearly impossible to make peace with anyone else. Too often relationships in your world are used as an attempt to get away from yourself by “joining” with another. This is merely a distraction. Relationships between two whole beings is delicious and can be very fruitful – between those who feel incomplete, they can be very messy and even quite destructive.

We suggest that regardless of whether you ever marry another person or not, that you marry yourself as well. Too often humans treat themselves like a roommate they have at least mild contempt for – looking in the mirror and calling her fat, old, lazy and stupid – doing things just to make her shut up or to placate her – indulging her rather than actually cherishing her and giving her something of true value.

Remember, the seeming world outside of you will treat you the way you treat yourself. YOU are the one who sets the tone and leads the way. No one can give you what you are unwilling to give yourself. Someone can tell you all day long how wonderful, limitless, beautiful, capable and brilliant you are, but until YOU are willing to BELIEVE it and say it to yourself, their words will be like booze to an alcoholic – it will never satisfy or quench you and you will just want more and more and more.

To marry yourself requires no ceremony but it might be very helpful for you to write vows just the same. Take yourself to have and to hold, to love and honor, to walk with and support all the days of this life and beyond. Begin to romance and woo yourself daily as you would someone you met whom you wanted to have an intimate loving relationship with – never criticize or condemn. Never withhold or lie to – and never give up on. Treat yourself as the valuable treasure you would want a “soulmate” to – and never settle for less from yourself.

The fact is, you are in a LONG-term committed relationship whether you have wanted to admit it or not. Now the question is, what have you been committed to doing? Brow-beating, judging, punishing, pushing, resisting? You ARE your soulmate. No one is coming along to save you or to complete you. In fact, you don’t need saving, but you may need to recognize that what you’ve been seeking has been here all along. Call off the search. Bring in the dogs. Let the honeymoon begin. ~ Jacob Glass